Crepe Myrtle flower

Only a few more weeks and our trees will be budding with new leaves for the year 2009. It is fascinating to watch their transformation in the spring. This budding will be swiftly followed with out brilliantly colored songbirds building their nests among the newly sprung to life branches of the trees. The trees closest to the house will be occupied first, trees that enhance our lawns and the countryside.

In building our house six years ago, we had regular contractors for the project. We went the mile and invested thousands of dollars in the lawn and yard. We hired Tim, a professional landscaper, to plant shrubbery, sod and trees.

For us an appealing and robust lawn was a priority for the property. In childhood, I recall climbing, scaling the robust trees that grew on grandpa’s farm in the Ozarks of Missouri. I recall too climbing the persimmon tree to retrieve the ripened fruit for a snack. My cousin Leroy example emboldened me to climb to the highest branches.

Now, after six years of growth, by our own selection of trees, we congratulate ourselves  for investing and improving our property. Our trees include the ever beautiful cherry trees, river birches, maple and crepe myrtle. I am already anticipating with joy the pink blossoms of the cherry trees. These wondrous trees that we have planted are one of the joys of life. They add monetary value to our property, but also brighten our lives. They are a source of considerable psychological benefit.

Our wondrous trees provide us spiritual encouragements. From observing them year-round we can find a source of spiritual nourishment. In The Upper Room, a devotional by Teresa describes how she was blessed spiritually by a tree. Here is the narrative:

The Weight of Bitterness

Read Ephesians 4:25-5:2

“See to it that no fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of  bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it may become defiled.” ~~ Hebrews 12:15 (NRSV)

Twenty years ago the pine tree in our front yard was a tiny sapling that needed a ring of bricks to protect it from being trodden underfoot. Now it shades our house. During a recent winter storm, however, its lower branches swept the ground under the weight of ice and snow.

That weighted tree was a picture of the Christian I used to be. For years I allowed the weight of abuse when I was a child and the death of my mother when I was in high school to sap my strength and keep me from growing in faith. I allowed anger and resentment to grow into bitterness. Instead of raising my face up in praise to God who uses our trials for good, I doubted my heavenly father’s goodness.

When the sun finally melted the ice and snow,  our pine tree stood just as tall and mighty as before the storm.  Unlike a tree, we can choose how we will respond to painful circumstances. We can choose to live under the weight of bitterness, or we can allow God’s love to melt away the ice so we can stand tall. Bitterness can rob us of knowledge of God’s presence. Remaining open to Good and trusting God’s never-ending love bring great strength and deep joy.

Her prayer, inspired by the pine tree, reads:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, free us from any bitterness that remains in our heart. Amen.

Her thought, also inspired by the pine tree, reads:

God offers us relief from the weight of bitterness.

~~ Teresa Dickhoner, Ohio

The trees will be bursting forth with new life soon. As you watch them excel in their development, think and meditate on their spiritual significance.

The Upper Room devotional is available at Local United Methodist Churches.

I still cherish and remember fondly these dedicated people. They included Luther and Beth, retired medical doctors from South Africa; and  Mary, the 30-year church treasurer and retired school teacher who chose to remain single but assisted nieces and nephews with college expenses. They include Ida, who lived in HUD housing and at the age of 80 passed on. She was a source of sunshine though “as poor as Job’s turkey.” Upon her demise, she deeded to the church her one source of passing the time: a record player and a set of 78 rpm records.

These dedicated Christians and residents of the small community, even in retirement, brought hope to their neighbors, and especially their pastor. Also, 50% of this congregation had earned BA or MA degrees. I officiated at the burials of some of them in my eight years as their pastor, friend, confidant and counselor.

On this day, though, my pleasant memories are of how at their ages they were a blessing to both church and community. They are still my role models for productivity in retirement. In our retirement years we too can be a source of encouragement to our neighbors, family, friends, and especially grandchildren. Upon my departure, I believe my daughters and five grandchildren will be imprinted with good by my entire life, but especially with the positive things I did in my own retirement.

I have been retired from the US Army for 22 years, and from the United Methodist Church for 10 years. This phase of my life has been enriching.

How can we enrich our lives while in retirement? One principle to implement for immediate benefit is a conscientious attention to your state of health. At any cost, have regular medical check-ups; in other words, don’t neglect your health. Medicare encourages retirees toward a decision to prolong our lives. Seventy-year-olds are in need of preventive care just as much as a 40-year-old. In these closing months and years of life, it is wise not to neglect  your physical, psychological  and emotional well-being. My own program of preventive health care includes regular eye exams and dental care. Select your care providers carefully, and follow through on your appointments. As I write this I am reminded of an upcoming appointment with an optometrist for a six-month exam. Cataracts or other diseases of eyesight in aging won’t sneak up on me unknowingly.

I am also reminded as I write this narrative of our very own Cassie, a 16-year-old Pug. Over the years she has been a delightful companion and a source of joy to us. I see her health declining now; she is partially blind now. In these closing days of life she still has regular appointments with her vet, Dr. Tina Winn.

Preventive care in retirement is beneficial no matter how much longer we live.

I am satisfied with the publicity that medical care for everyone is getting from our politicians. I desire for everyone the extended medical care that I have had under Medicare and Tricare Prime. I appreciate the goal of Senator Barack Obama on medical care. He convincingly states his plan for all Americans to have similar health care to that of our representatives in Congress. To this proposal, I sing “Amen, Amen, Amen!”

More about our retirement years in next weeks’ Sunday article. Meanwhile, make and keep an appointment with your health care provider.

A recent USA Today headline proclaimed “Rising prices hammer seniors on fixed income.” Food and medication goes out of reach for some. These are troublesome times, too, for parents, single or married, for grandparents and all adults.

It is formidable for us to think about the future when the financial skies are dark, because we have a problematical, hard to solve, financial quandary. Even though it takes a Herculean effort we still need to be  proactive and have a financial in place to implement in the better days. Being optimistic is permitted, even in these times of uncertainty. With the arrival of 2008, my investments in mutual funds declined in value. Since the onset of 2008, my rate of interest in the money market has declined to the level of 2.4%. As to interest on a savings account — that’s not worth printing.

As a minister in northwest Missouri, I’ll always remember the investment advice given to me by Wilbur, a Presbyterian who owned a portion of businesses in this town of 6,000 population. When talking about his grocery store, he said, “Pastor, over the years, as a pig farmer, I’ve discovered to make money is to buy when others are selling their stock.” What my friendly Presbyterian meant was to get into investing when prices are low or declining.

This is a time to invest, or to at least make plans to invest. For your long-term plans, think about what are called “faith based funds.”

In the early years of the 21st century, investment dollars are hard at work doing a lot more than making money. They are supporting conservation measures, fueling humane labor practices, and rewarding companies for shunning groups with ties to abortion service providers.

Religious mutual funds are burgeoning. Religious mutual funds are popular with the public and one way for an investor to express their conviction on social issues. Many investors are motivated by the opportunity to be socially responsible as well as to make a significant return in dividends.

The Amana Income Fund, an Islamic fund that avoids gambling, tobacco and meat-producing stocks, outperformed 180 funds in its equity-income stock between 2004-2007. Investors have lined up to join in this Islamic fund.

Faith-based funds are opportunities for investors with a passion for putting faith into action. The United Methodists have and outstanding investment plan for their pastors and employees. Since its inception, the Methodists have appreciated the link between ethics and investing. Rev. John Wesley, founder of the Methodists, dictated to his supporters “gain all we can without hurting our neighbor.” That ethic has inspired his spiritual descendants to shun investments in alcohol, tobacco and weapons manufacturing.

Socially responsible investing is growing by leaps and bounds. It has morphed into a $2 trillion mainstream industry.

There are precautions to observe before rushing into a broker or to the computer to invest in faith-based funds.

• Research the 10-year track record of the fund. This is a tool for measuring past success.
• Visit www.socialfunds.com for a free 20 page “Investing in Socially Responsible Mutual Funds.”
• As well as their success on dividends, be sensitive to their mission statement.

If contemplating such an investment, another step is to ask yourself the following question:

• What are my financial goals?
• What would I like my investment to support in terms of social or environmental practices?
• Do I care about whether my fund managers are working from a particular faith tradition?

In my investment plan I use First Command brokers in Clarksville. I recommend brokers, unless you have an elementary understanding of mutual funds. My investments for the future are already set or I would explore in depth Faith-based mutual funds as an investment.  I believe this bad, sad economy will eventually be history. prepare now for a prosperous future. It may take two or three but the good times will return.

Now is the time to reserarch investing.

Rembrandt’s “Philosopher in Meditation”

No Buddha Required is by no means a critical, derogatory or fault-finding expose of Buddhism. Being the international city Clarksville is, there are believers in this world religion among us. I know several practicing Buddhists, productive citizens who have a depth of compassion. Their teachings are respectful of all God’s creatures.

No Buddha Required is a thoughtful, brief article on  discovering and appropriation meditation. meditation is the common thread in all world religions. It’s a frequent theme in Baptist, Methodist, Church of Christ and others within the Protestant. The Catholic Church has  developed meditation as an avenue to spirituality.

Nancy Mariello is a proponent of contemplation, of deliberately budgeting time for this form of creative thinking. Even a brief time, such as a 15-minute  period, is healthy and motivational. In her experience, she perpetually states:

“All the junk, all the stimuli, are pouring out of you, so you are left with a cleaner, lighter mind and body. You feel refreshed, very relaxed, and you have more capacity to take on new things.”

Wow! With these results and benefits available, I need to meditate more frequently. My meditation is reserved for the early morning hours and when I wake up at night. In the case of the latter, I often doze off to sleep again quickly as I enter into contemplation or prayer. Minutes in this discipline in the morning does change me and raises my level of enthusiasm for the day.

Meditation, as we call it, “the quiet time,” embraces reading and praying. In the case of prayer, I reserve my 20-30 minutes in the pool for creative thoughts for my five grandchildren in Evansville and their parents, and my daughter, Dana, in Reno.

Meditation is being rediscovered as a tool for enriching and balancing our busy lives. This discipline yields “a host of health benefits from increased concentration to some relief from depression. Medical schools are including it in their training of new doctors as a treatment for themselves as well as their future patients. It’s become much more mainstream in our society.

It is of such extreme benefit for our welfare that it merits the effort to start and maintain this spiritual practice. For the person interested in discovery this ancient art on mind relaxation, there are dozens books, classes, videotapes, DVDs  and CDs for beginners. The principles are also found online. For an extended list of recommendations, check out  the local library.

Although I meditate daily, I am still a student. For my own spiritual development, advancement and progress A group experience would be healthy in realizing my inner spiritual resources. At the Madison Street Street United Methodist church I found a weekly Yoga class, with its emphasis on inner focus and concentration, beneficial.

fasting is a sacrifice where a person voluntarily abstains from consuming food or drinking liquids. I grew up in an evangelical church environment that suggested and encouraged regular fasting as a means of spiritual growth.

As a teenager in St. Louis, I accepted the challenge of abstaining from one meal a week, a challenge for a 16-year-old boy with a typical appetite. For me, I purposely opted to abstain from the Friday school lunch. To heighten my appreciation for this weekly event, I retreated to a quiet place in the high school for an hour of meditation and reflection. This discipline became a spiritual growth hormone for me. This sacrifice aided my efforts to a good teen and to say no to the temptations of being a junior in high school.

Upon graduation, this act of discipline was so integrated into my spiritual nature that it continued in college. At Southern Nazarene University, I became a member of the Fasting and Prayer Fellowship meeting on Fridays, an hour of spiritual discipline. I elected the ritual voluntarily and found it to be a means of renewal and sometimes I benefited from a natural emotional high. The end result was resolve, persistence, and steadfastness to finish college and work with the Lord. I know the performance of this prescripted habit enabled me to capitalize on my spiritual resources.

Precipitating these thoughts on fasting was an article in The Upper Room [Mar-Apr 2008] describing how to make thebdiscipline even more profitable to our well-being.

The following is the verbatim experience of another person on an evangelical pilgrimage and how her fasting contributed to her enrichment. She received an epiphany on how to sacrifice even more than missing a meal:

“My 24 hours of fasting, solitude, introspection and prayer were finished. I was mentally and spiritually fulfilled but physically starved. It was time to break my fast. The food before me was one of my favorite meals, and as is my custom before eating, I said a prayer of thanks for this Bounty from God’s earth. Here was the food my body craved, now blessed and ready to be eaten. Yet I could not eat; something was missing. What was it?

“I could not define the problem for some time. Finally my mind focused , and the answer was right in front of me. What would I do with the money that I had not spent for food wile fasting? How would I spend it? What did God want me to do with it? I broke my fast by eating, and as my physical hunger subsided, I spotted a copy of The Upper Room.

“The answer was clear: take the money saved by fasting and send a subscription to The Upper Room to alleviate the spiritual hunger of someone in need of God’s guidance. This way my fast can help spread the word of God and send spiritual encouragement to someone.” — A. Brooks Drake

In college, I never had the money to donate, since I was living “on a shoestring” in my 20s. If you adopt this discipline and wish to donate to a worthy organization, the Loaves and Fishes will use that gift to feed the hungry and provide spiritual encouragement. For spiritual guidance, read The Upper Room, available at all United Methodist Churches.

While on active duty, I had the delight of serving with chaplains of the Episcopal faith. I’ll always remember the support of Don, Bob and Jim, who so devotedly represented their Lord and demonstrated God’s grace as chaplains endorsed by the Episcopal Church.

Being a United Methodist, I’m close or distant (depending on one’s view) to the Espicopals. The founder of Methodism, Rev. John Wesley, was an Espicopalian/Angelican his 86 years. There is a bond between the Methodists and Espicopals; we are connected.

The Episcopal Church is now experiencing growth in its number of female clergy. The Methodists too have a dedicated cadre of fully ordained clergy who are women who have completed a discipline course of study such as college or seminary. Women ministers occupy leadership roles in local churches as well as in the denominational headquarters. In Missouri, my supervisor and pastor was Bishop Ann, an outstanding scholar and spiritual leader and now bishop of Nebraska. We appreciate female pastors in the Methodist Church.

The Episcopals too recognize the strengths of ordained women. A recent periodical states:

In 2006, Anglican woman priests outpaced male counterparts in ordination. The Anglican Church ordained 478 new clergy in 2006: 244 women and 234 men — a historical fact.

During my Army career, I served with women chaplains who were totally ordained seminary graduates. In the Episcopal and Methodist tradition female ministers receive the same privilege and opportunities as male pastors. They are serving in small and large communities and churches, serving God and denomination with diligence, faithfulness and competency.

On such vitamin for me is the devotional book The Upper Room. Over the miles of my spiritual journey it has been a steady companion, strengthening me wherever I went. In Vietnam, Korea, and Germany, stateside in Fort Bliss and Fort Hood, and now here in Clarksville, The Upper Room provided me with the sustenance required to develop and sustain spiritual stamina.

Some of the titles and prayers I favor are listed for September, but favored and appropriate for any time. Each devotional is listed with the following components: date, title, scripture narrative, prayer, thought for the day and “prayer focus.”

Here are my choices by title: Prayer Focus, Giving Freely, Meek or Weak, Golden Days, and Christmas Every Day.

Now for the prayers:

“Thank you for friends. Please use us to help meet the needs of others.”

“God help us to be meek but not weak and to be bold but not arrogant.”

“Lord, fill us with joy each time we give and help us to be wiling to sacrifice.”

“Loving Lord, be patient with us … “

These are a few of the spiritual building blocks, the vitamins and nutrients for the soul, awaiting discovery in The Upper Room.

Include in your busy schedule time for meditation and your spiritual strength will improve.

A copy of this devotional is available at the United Methodist Church or can be ordered from www.upperroom.org/bookstore or by calling 1-800-972-0433.

My friends, Gary and Rebecca, are sterling examples of dedication to the vocation of teaching. They are to be commended for their sense of community too.

I first met them when they came to Dixon County public schools, for their first teaching assignment, in a town where I was the minister at the Methodist Church. For three years, their enthusiasm and commitment heartened our community and our church. Students and their parents were inspired by their focused lives, and the care and compassion they gave to everyone they met.

I often watched as children rushed to greet them, arms wide, the better to give and receive hugs. They were heroes and models that embraced our community even as they inspired us.

Gary and Rebecca excelled in the task and challenge of education our children. As all teachers do, they spent many after school hours grading papers, creating lesson plans and decorating their classrooms. They were indefatigable, diligent and competent in their teaching. When they left our district three years later, they did so with the affection and appreciation of both community and church.

The highest compliment I can give to teachers like my friends, Gary and Rebecca, is that I wish they were available to teach my grandchildren. Our teachers in Clarksville merit equal appreciation for the quality they add to our schools and our lives.

Last week, I read for my devotionals writing by another teacher, Nancy Mapes, who shared a story in The Upper Room Devotional (9/7/07). Her words enlightened me, and the longer I meditated on them, the more I experienced spiritually.

Miss Mapes shared the following anecdote with a spiritual application for us:

“As a teacher in a music program for parents and their young children, I often sing a lullaby at the end of class. The soft music is soothing for the children. I also encourage the parents to sing to their children at home. Some parents are hesitant, feeling they cannot sing well. I assure them that children prefer the sound of a parent’s voice over that of anyone else, even a professional or trained singer.

“Their attitude reminds me of how I sometimes approach my relationship with God. Often I have felt that my simple, halting prayers do not sound as profound or polished as others I have heard. Yet I know that God longs to hear my voice. My heartfelt prayers, however awkward they may sound to me, sound like music to God.”

As Miss Mapes said so well, we too can grateful that God is attentive to our voices. With the Psalmist, we too can say:

“I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.”

– Psalms 116:1 (NIV)

If you wish to obtain a copy of The Upper Room Devotional, visit any local United Methodist Church.